Contextual imitation of intransitive body actions in a Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas): A "do as other does" study.

ABSTRACT: Cetaceans are remarkable for exhibiting group-specific behavioral traditions or cultures in several behavioral domains (e.g., calls, behavioral tactics), and the question of whether they can be acquired socially, for example through imitative processes, remains open. Here we used a "Do as other does" paradigm to experimentally study the ability of a beluga to imitate familiar intransitive (body-oriented) actions demonstrated by a conspecific. The participant was first trained to copy three familiar behaviors on command (training phase) and then was tested for her ability to generalize the learned "Do as the other does" command to a different set of three familiar behaviors (testing phase). We found that the beluga (1) was capable of learning the copy command signal "Do what-the-other-does"

SUBMITTER: Abramson JZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5479519 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature